Looking forward to more impressions of the LCD-X with the V200. I've heard that amp is a great match for the HD800, and that's probably the headphone I'll be getting next. It would be awesome to have an amp that pairs well with both. I'm finding my Uber Bifrost > EF5 > LCD-X to be insufficient. The overall quality is good, the EF5 has a very warm, pleasing sound that is easy to listen to for long periods. However, the sound seems congested and muddled, instrument separation is lacking. The Mjolnir / Gungnir stack seems like a great, relatively 'inexpensive' choice to bring out the detail of the LCD-X... but I'm afraid it might be too bright with the future HD800's.

I'll be able to help with that shortly--I currently use the V-200 with LCD-2.2, and HD-800, and my LCD-Xs will be arriving in a couple of days. It's a great amp with all of my current phones, and I'm expecting that will be the case with the LCD-X as well.

Looking forward to more impressions of the LCD-X with the V200. I've heard that amp is a great match for the HD800, and that's probably the headphone I'll be getting next. It would be awesome to have an amp that pairs well with both. I'm finding my Uber Bifrost > EF5 > LCD-X to be insufficient. The overall quality is good, the EF5 has a very warm, pleasing sound that is easy to listen to for long periods. However, the sound seems congested and muddled, instrument separation is lacking. The Mjolnir / Gungnir stack seems like a great, relatively 'inexpensive' choice to bring out the detail of the LCD-X... but I'm afraid it might be too bright with the future HD800's.

So many tough decisions in this hobby.. and so much research to do..

Mjolnir with the HD-800 is trash...stay away if you want to get the HD-800s; if you don't, I'll do a very good job with the LCD-Xs.

Well... I'll carefully consider if Mjolnir is a viable option then. My ears are fairly sensitive to high treble. At the same time I'm fascinated by the imaging, instrument separation, and detail that everyone says the HD 800s provide. I'm wondering if a pair of electrostatics would be a better choice... but then I think I'd be opening up a much more expensive can of worms.

Well... I'll carefully consider if Mjolnir is a viable option then. My ears are fairly sensitive to high treble. At the same time I'm fascinated by the imaging, instrument separation, and detail that everyone says the HD 800s provide. I'm wondering if a pair of electrostatics would be a better choice... but then I think I'd be opening up a much more expensive can of worms.

If you're looking for an amp within that price range why not consider the Yulong A18. It's sounds great with my LCD-X and worked quite well with the HD800's when I auditioned them.

Well... I'll carefully consider if Mjolnir is a viable option then. My ears are fairly sensitive to high treble. At the same time I'm fascinated by the imaging, instrument separation, and detail that everyone says the HD 800s provide. I'm wondering if a pair of electrostatics would be a better choice... but then I think I'd be opening up a much more expensive can of worms.

... my experience with solid state and the X was not as good as I would have expected. But I din't have a ss-amp to my disposal that is designed to really go well with lower resistance cans. I really would like to hear the Mjolnir with the X myself, because the preconditions to sound great are all given.
My very best experience with the X was pairing it with a transformer-coupled tube amp. I tried one OTL which sounded good but not killer...Edited by musikaladin - 2/10/14 at 6:38am

... my experience with solid state and the X was not as good as I would have expected. But I din't have a ss-amp to my disposal that is designed to really go well with lower resistance cans. I really would like to hear the Mjolnir with the X myself, because the preconditions to sound great are all given.
My very best experience with the X was pairing it with a transformer-coupled tube amp. I tried one OTL which sounded good but not killer...

i briefly had the the mjo when i got my lcd-x's, it sounded great, but i had already been considering going to the bryston bha-1, so i sold the mjo, and a bha-1 should be here in a day or two.

right now i'm using a MAD Ear+, and a little ifi ican, both sound wonderful !

I'll be able to help with that shortly--I currently use the V-200 with LCD-2.2, and HD-800, and my LCD-Xs will be arriving in a couple of days. It's a great amp with all of my current phones, and I'm expecting that will be the case with the LCD-X as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VidFail

Great! Looking forward to it! Please be as detailed as possible...

Good job, FedEx--the LCD-X has arrived a day early. I took a long lunch hour (I work at home, so I can do that . . .) and, after the phones had warmed up (around 0 degrees F outside today) I spent about an hour with them listening to various tracks I am quite familiar with.

I own LCD2.2s, and HD-800s, love them both, but have always wished for a bit more brightness in the LCD2, and a bit less in the HD-800. The LCD-X seems to fill the bill in both of those areas. Good, strong bass when called for, but not boomy at all. Good impact, too--maybe a bit thinner in the mid-bass than the LCD2 on some tracks, but I'm not sure that's a bad thing. I don't consider myself a bass head, but I do like the depth, volume and impact of the low end when it's supposed to be there. The mids, upper mids, and treble are very smooth, but not strident. The HD-800 can be a bit shrill for my ears sometimes; the LCD-X has beautifully extended highs, but smooth as silk all the way up. From top to bottom, everything sounds just a bit on the warm side of neutral, which is to my liking.

When I first opened up the box to let the phones warm up, I was in my studio; all I have out there is a Marantz CD player, so I used the stock cable and plugged it directly in. I wasn't impressed; I had to turn the headphone jack volume up past 12 o'clock, and it sounded a bit thin. Later, back in my house, I hooked the phones up to my Norse 8-wire, and plugged them into my V-200. A fuller sound, more bass impact; everything was better, of course. I was used to running the V-200 volume between 10 and 11 o'clock with the gain switches on zero for both my LCD-2 and HD-800; with the LCD-X, I'm finding that 9-9:30 is plenty. I may experiment with the V-200 gain switches so I have a little more play in the volume pot.

A few tracks I tried were:

(1) the opening theme/fanfare from the film 'The Sea Hawk' is a favorite piece of orchestral music of mine; it begins with a trumpet fanfare that always sounded good, but a little bit thin and brittle on the HD-800; it was superb on the LCD-X.

(2) Several tracks off of Sting's 'The Last Ship' sounded just perfect to my ears; for me the LCD-X has the proper balance from bottom to top; nothing is too forward or too far back. The soundstage is open and wide; nowhere near what the HD-800 can do, but I always felt that it was somewhat exaggerated on those phones. It's possible that these LCD-X phones could replace both my LCD-2 and HD-800. A lot of tracks that I always used to listen to on one phone or the other now sound great on the LCD-X.

(3) Amber Rubarth's 'Sessions From the 17th Ward,' a Chesky binaural recording, also sounds excellent on the LCD-X; I can very clearly locate the position of all of the musicians, and even their varying distances from the microphones are apparent.

(4) Rush's 'Limelight' from the Moving Pictures album was perfect; there's such a fine line with the guitar on that track; it always seems too trebly and thin, or too muddy and thick, depending on what headphones I'm using; the LCD-X gets it right.

(5) I love Little Feat's 'Waiting For Columbus' album--one of the best live concert mixes I've heard. It's always a challenge to get good instrument separation, though, and here again the LCD-X did the job. The bass line on 'Spanish Moon' sounded better than I've ever heard it before.

(6) And finally, back to some orchestral brass: 'The Duke of Marlborough Fanfare' can be found on the Dallas Wind Symphony's recording of Percy Grainger's Lincolnshire Posy. Low brass instruments playing thick, dissonant chords are a challenge for any speakers or headphones to reproduce cleanly, but this was another short piece that sounded better than I have ever heard it before.

The ear cushions are very comfortable; they are quite a bit softer than the LCD-2 pads. The LCD-Xs are heavy, and the headband could use more padding, but the ear cushions are great. I never wear phones for more than an hour or two at a time, anyway, so they should be fine in that respect. As mentioned above, only the 1/4" cable is included. Sending Audeze an email with your serial number will get you a free balanced cable when they are in stock again.

I don't know if these will improve with any burn in time, but they sound good right now. I know it's pretty early and I haven't had a lot of time with these yet, but I really like them so far. They also seem to be a really good match with the V-200; I'll be listening a lot this evening, and hopefully trying them with my Woo WA-2 also.

Good job, FedEx--the LCD-X has arrived a day early. I took a long lunch hour (I work at home, so I can do that . . .) and, after the phones had warmed up (around 0 degrees F outside today) I spent about an hour with them listening to various tracks I am quite familiar with.

I own LCD2.2s, and HD-800s, love them both, but have always wished for a bit more brightness in the LCD2, and a bit less in the HD-800. The LCD-X seems to fill the bill in both of those areas. Good, strong bass when called for, but not boomy at all. Good impact, too--maybe a bit thinner in the mid-bass than the LCD2 on some tracks, but I'm not sure that's a bad thing. I don't consider myself a bass head, but I do like the depth, volume and impact of the low end when it's supposed to be there. The mids, upper mids, and treble are very smooth, but not strident. The HD-800 can be a bit shrill for my ears sometimes; the LCD-X has beautifully extended highs, but smooth as silk all the way up. From top to bottom, everything sounds just a bit on the warm side of neutral, which is to my liking.

When I first opened up the box to let the phones warm up, I was in my studio; all I have out there is a Marantz CD player, so I used the stock cable and plugged it directly in. I wasn't impressed; I had to turn the headphone jack volume up past 12 o'clock, and it sounded a bit thin. Later, back in my house, I hooked the phones up to my Norse 8-wire, and plugged them into my V-200. A fuller sound, more bass impact; everything was better, of course. I was used to running the V-200 volume between 10 and 11 o'clock with the gain switches on zero for both my LCD-2 and HD-800; with the LCD-X, I'm finding that 9-9:30 is plenty. I may experiment with the V-200 gain switches so I have a little more play in the volume pot.

A few tracks I tried were:

(1) the opening theme/fanfare from the film 'The Sea Hawk' is a favorite piece of orchestral music of mine; it begins with a trumpet fanfare that always sounded good, but a little bit thin and brittle on the HD-800; it was superb on the LCD-X.

(2) Several tracks off of Sting's 'The Last Ship' sounded just perfect to my ears; for me the LCD-X has the proper balance from bottom to top; nothing is too forward or too far back. The soundstage is open and wide; nowhere near what the HD-800 can do, but I always felt that it was somewhat exaggerated on those phones. It's possible that these LCD-X phones could replace both my LCD-2 and HD-800. A lot of tracks that I always used to listen to on one phone or the other now sound great on the LCD-X.

(3) Amber Rubarth's 'Sessions From the 17th Ward,' a Chesky binaural recording, also sounds excellent on the LCD-X; I can very clearly locate the position of all of the musicians, and even their varying distances from the microphones are apparent.

(4) Rush's 'Limelight' from the Moving Pictures album was perfect; there's such a fine line with the guitar on that track; it always seems too trebly and thin, or too muddy and thick, depending on what headphones I'm using; the LCD-X gets it right.

(5) I love Little Feat's 'Waiting For Columbus' album--one of the best live concert mixes I've heard. It's always a challenge to get good instrument separation, though, and here again the LCD-X did the job. The bass line on 'Spanish Moon' sounded better than I've ever heard it before.

(6) And finally, back to some orchestral brass: 'The Duke of Marlborough Fanfare' can be found on the Dallas Wind Symphony's recording of Percy Grainger's Lincolnshire Posy. Low brass instruments playing thick, dissonant chords are a challenge for any speakers or headphones to reproduce cleanly, but this was another short piece that sounded better than I have ever heard it before.

The ear cushions are very comfortable; they are quite a bit softer than the LCD-2 pads. The LCD-Xs are heavy, and the headband could use more padding, but the ear cushions are great. I never wear phones for more than an hour or two at a time, anyway, so they should be fine in that respect. As mentioned above, only the 1/4" cable is included. Sending Audeze an email with your serial number will get you a free balanced cable when they are in stock again.

I don't know if these will improve with any burn in time, but they sound good right now. I know it's pretty early and I haven't had a lot of time with these yet, but I really like them so far. They also seem to be a really good match with the V-200; I'll be listening a lot this evening, and hopefully trying them with my Woo WA-2 also.

It sounds like our ears are shaped exactly the same way...say hello to your long-lost twin brother!!! I completely agree with everything you just said. Another satisfied customer.

Yes, I have been listening a lot more all evening, and I'm really liking these. I've lowered the gain to the -6dB pm the V-200, so the volume control has a bit more play. Still a nice full volume at 10 o'clock.

I've also tried the LCD-X with my WA-2 (I'm using Tung Sol 5998s) and it's an excellent combo. A tad less attack/impact in the bass, and a slightly warmer sound over all, which is to be expected; I like it a lot with the right recordings.

Particularly revealing are some older Joni Mitchell recordings. Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire (the original version, from 'For the Roses' is just amazing with these phones. For me, they are an improvement on the already very good LCD-2.2; I've been listening for hours, and the only thing I'm wishing for is a few ounces less weight on my head.